Play about futurist, inventor R. Buckminster Fuller to open at San Jose Rep Theatre

The beauty of great ideas is that they never go out of style. Richard Buckminster ("Bucky") Fuller--futurist, inventor and many other egghead-y titles--was on constant boil with them. Consequently, this tireless thinker's observations on everything from technology to ecology remain as significant today as when he pronounced them during his life, which ended in 1983 at age 87.

"His ideas are frighteningly contemporary and relevant," says D.W. Jacobs, who wrote and directs a play titled R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe. Opening Jan. 30 and running through Feb. 23, Jacobs' creation makes its bow at the San Jose Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose. The one-man show stars Ron Campbell, who also introduced the role when Fuller had its world premiere at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, fittingly, in Y2K.

"I don't try to cover the range of his inventions. I wrote the play more about how he reinvented himself as a model for others to follow--to ask, 'Why am I here?' " Jacobs says. "It's a very 19th-century New England way of thinking. Each individual has a perspective on the universe that's a concept of democracy. There's collaboration, but each person has to own up to what he knows and what he can contribute to society."

Meanwhile, Campbell hasn't taken on the Bucky persona for almost a decade, which meant he "had to relearn it from the bottom up" for SJ Rep. No matter. A veteran of several one-man shows (among other film, TV and stage roles), the artist who once played the King of Clowns in Cirque du Soleil's Kooza is full of Fuller wisdom now.

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"It's very interesting to be inside his mind for two hours," he says of a part that is "a Mount Everest climb every night." "Bucky was one of the few people on Earth for whom nothing was off topic. It's a joy to inhabit somebody who had that breadth of mind."

The actor finds it appropriate that Fuller at long last is being staged in Silicon Valley; it ran in San Francisco in 2000. "I would hope the people who are tech movers and shakers would see the show and then send their employees to see it. I think Bucky would be most pleased that the show is here."

Of Fuller's famous, never-ending lectures--in 1975 he expounded for a 42 hour series called Everything I Know--Campbell calls them "thinking out loud. It can go in any tangent because of his ravenous curiosity. That was another thing that attracted me to this role. He was childlike in the best sense of the word."

Fuller's life, however, did have its share of tragedies. His older daughter died from illness just before she turned 4, and he felt some responsibility for it. He also contemplated suicide following a host of other personal setbacks. But fate seemingly, literally, spoke to Bucky and set him on a wholly transformative path. It's a stimulating and thoughtful course that we all benefit from now.

Tickets are $29 to $74; all tickets for individuals 30 and under, as well as for full-time students, are 50 percent off the regular ticket price. Available at 408.367.7255, SJRep.com or at the box office at 101 Paseo de San Antonio in downtown San Jose.